Just a Little More Time

"We'll just give her a little more time," Sophie fiddled with the hem of her short white dress, "She's just late." She reassured, turning to look at Yukiko and Romy as if they could reassure Sophie's reassurance.

Yukiko and Romy exchanged a glance with one another for a moment before turning back to Sophie. The red-haired women could tell they wanted to say something, but they were avoiding it. But what was there to avoid? She was right. Lily just needed a few more minutes and everything would be fine.

“Sophie…it’s been three hours.” Romy spoke gently as he took her hand. His thumb caressed her knuckles with the slightest touch. His eyes trained on her cheek bones rather than her eyes.

“Maybe it’s time,” Yukiko came up and put an arm around her friend’s shoulder, “We can go back to my place. That could be fun. Drink wine, post vaguely mean pics on Insta, and just forget-”

“Forget what?!” Sophie snapped pushing the other two away, “Forget my wedding? My family? Lily? Everyone is waiting for me out there!” She walked away from them and gestured dramatically toward the door.

Outside sat over two hundred people on uncomfortable pews decorated with light blue satin ribbons and forget-me-nots. They were both Lily’s choice. She would only make those choices if she intended to keep her promise. She would not let family and friends sweat in a church on this beautifully hot summer day exactly six months before the anniversary of the day they first met and six months after the anniversary of their first date. Sophie knew her.

“She wouldn’t do that.” She stated simply, frowning at her friends.

Romy and Yukiko frowned as well, eyes anywhere but Sophie’s face. No doubt they felt some amount of shame for the things she said about her Lily-bud. The three friends fell into an awkward length of silence, but not true silence because every few seconds it was broken by the ring of an outgoing call and every time, “Heeyy this is the voicemail of Lily Reid. Please leave a message after the beep! Byeeeee!”

Texts went unanswered. Probably because she was driving. It’s irresponsible to text or call while you’re driving. She’s pretty sure it’s illegal in their states cause it’s illegal everywhere. Right? Cause that would make sense, just as much sense as Lily being late.

“Lily-bud! It’s Sophie. Please call back. I need to hear your voice. I know traffic can be crazy, that’s why I told you to leave early.” She laughed, but only to herself because she noticed that neither of her friends joined in. She sighed and dropped her phone in her lap, with the screen on and waiting for a reply.

“Romy and I are just gonna pop outside for a second, we’ll be right back.” Yukiko patted Sophie’s shoulder with a kind smile. She then shuffled over to Romy and pulled him off the couch, together they left the bride-to-be alone to her thoughts and unread texts.

That’s probably for the best. If Lily came into the room just now, she would be overwhelmed with all three of them. Romy and Yukiko might say the wrong thing. Sophie called once again, “Lily-bud, can just come in and see me. I know that’s against the rules or whatever, but Romy and Yukiko won’t say anything like they did last time. We know you’re just nervous. Please call back.” She ended the voicemail and just stared at the 56 unanswered calls.

“So..um, hey everyone.” Sophie heard Romy’s voice from the distance, “It seems Lily has run into some trouble, so...uhh..yeah.”

“Yeah! Lily called ahead and said we can all go ahead and go to the reception and party until she gets here.” Yukiko finished with an awkward chuckle. The guests’ voices all rose in a confused uproar. Some were angry, but others were mostly confused.

“Where the hell is my daughter?” Lily’s mom shrieked above them all. That didn’t surprise Sophie, she was always a bit overprotective, in that harsh way that is totally normal for mothers to be. Although Lily usually checked in with her mother when she had to suddenly change her plans, but again she was still probably driving and forgot.

“Now, now. Mrs. Price. Lily said she’s coming as fast as she can. She just…needs more time.” Yukiko did that same chuckle. Sophie wondered why she kept doing that. She was telling the truth.

Sophie tried her best to ignore the voices as they filtered out of the church. From her bridle suit, she watched the guests herd themselves out the door and across the church yard. Scratch that. Some of them walked right to their cars which is ridiculous because why would they need their cars? It wasn’t that far a walk, and they wouldn’t need to leave. Lily was on her way. Yukiko just said.  Sophie shook her head.

“Oh wait!” She exclaimed, shocked by her own realization, “I’m so ridiculous, I can just track her phone.” She scoffed. How silly of her, she could’ve done this hours ago. Sophie scrolled over her plethora of apps and found the locator.

At first, she saw her little avatar hovering over the church. Too close to see Lily nearby. So, she zoomed out. And then zoomed out again. And again. And again. And one more time. Wow these maps are close. Lily’s avatar popped up in the middle of a road and on the move, just as she thought.

Except it was moving further away. Sophie blinked and zoomed in on some of the road names, and recognized where Lily was. She’s driving right up to the bridal shop where she got her dress from. She left the app.

Sophie: Is there a problem with your dress? I’m sure we could’ve fixed it here.

Lily: …

A burst of excitement spread through her chest as the dots appeared. After three hours of unanswered texts, she finally saw those dots. Anticipation bubbled.

And then it burst. The dots disappeared.

Sophie: I don’t know why you chose a bridal shop that was so far away. We could’ve avoided this.

Sophie sighed and closed the messaging app and went back to the locator. Lily was still driving in the direction of the bridal shop, showing no sign of stopping or slowing down. She adjusted her dress once again, smoothing out the skirt as she sat. She went back to her texts.

Sophie: I don’t care if everyone leaves. I’ll wait for you to get back. We’ll get married even if it’s just the two of us.

She sent that one last text as she waited for the dots to reappear, hoping that Lily would break that law just for her. The low, powerful thumping of music in the distance melded with the laughter and shouting of her guests. Sophie smiled at the idea of her guests having a good time, even during this dress emergency ruining her wedding.

The waiting would be worth it. Everyone waits for the most magical moment of their lives and the anticipation makes it better, even with emergencies. That’s all this is. An emergency. Which is why Sophie watched like a hawk on the locator app until her phone died. After that she could only mumble to herself, “She’s just late. She just needs more time.”

But as she stuck to her devotion, Lily’s avatar drove past the bridal shop.